KIRK FLETCHER "MY TURN" Source: Blues & Rhythm Magazine Date: 04/2010 Writer: Mike Stephenson

Young Kirk Fletcher is a supremely gifted and talented guitarist who has tended to be in the shadow of others for most of his career, having developed his awesome skills playing in the bands of Charlie Musselwhite, The Fabulous Thunderbirds and more recently that stellar organisation The Mannish Boys. Having witnessed him step forward in those three bands and seen and heard him let rip with a stunning guitar solo that you wished would not stop has been one of this reviewer’s musical joys over the past years.

Kirk has had two previous CDs out under his own name, the recently reissued from JSP titled ‘I’m Here & I’m Gone’ that first came out in 1999, and his first Delta Groove CD of 2004 ‘Shades Of Blue’. Both were well received and acclaimed by the blues world. His latest CD under review is in my estimation his most accomplished and adventurous so far. He really stretches out on the disc and takes his music beyond the basic blues format that his past two CDs have presented him in. His skills as one of the best young African/American blues guitarists on the modern blues scene are on full display on this tremendous release.

Kirk is at his most adventurous on the last track, the self penned ‘Continents End’ which is bound not to appeal to the purists amongst you. Double layered distorted guitar work and a crashing beat, and with its quirky overall sound with some spoken words from Karen Landau had me thinking of those acid fuelled musical experiments from the sixties underground music scene. In contrast to that number, the opening track ‘El Medio Stomp’ is a conventional uptempo twelve bar instrumental of three and a half minutes duration that allows Kirk to explore his fretboard and shows the speed with which he can whip up a well constructed and thoughtful guitar piece that should be the envy of many. On both his live shows and on past recordings Fletcher has been a reluctant vocalist, but on this disc he steps up to the plate on two numbers and shows his voice to be pretty good. One of the numbers is ‘Found Love’ which is a straight ahead twelve bar. The instrumental ‘National Anthem’ has a breezy and easy going feel to it.

Big band blues is heard on ‘Ain’t No Way’, which has hints of Albert Collins and features vocals from Paulie Cerra. Midway through Kirk lets go with a cracker of a guitar solo that will gain your attention. The instrumental ‘My Turn’ has Kirk and the band experimenting once again. The track starts off with some fine sax work before Kirk gets all quirky on guitar with distortion and wah wah to the fore. ‘Congo Square’ has Paulie Cerra on vocals on a number that would not sound out of place on a Santana or Neville Brothers CD. Kirk’s guitar comes blasting out of the speakers from the get go on the slow blues instrumental ‘Blues For Antone’ which is a vehicle for the man to show off his superb guitar playing and which finishes with some atmospheric wah wah. To be honest, some of this CD will not suit the tastes of blues purists but for those with more open musical minds it is a true step forward for this superb musician whose career is surely on the up and up, with this fine release surely getting him some much needed exposure.